Savepoint: Charting the Uncharted

In 2007, developer Naughty Dog released Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, their first game on PlayStation 3 and their first new series after Jak and Daxter, and before then Crash Bandicoot. This first game would go on to spawn 3 direct sequels, two spin-off adventures, a card battler and a mobile puzzle game.

That was just the start, as the series also got a board game, fittingly called Uncharted: The Board Game, along with a series of comics and even a novel. 2022 saw the characters leap from the videogame screen to the movie screen, as Uncharted starring Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg and Antonio Banderas released. In a fun twist, Nolan North the actor who voiced and motion capped Drake in the games, had a fun cameo.

As part of our Savepoint series, we thought it would be fun to take a look at all the games in the series. Please note for this, we are also including the previously mentioned comics and such, so you can have a complete list of all things Uncharted.

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2007

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

The first game in the Uncharted series, players were thrust into a world of treasure hunting, mysteries and more than a few close calls.

Players were thrown into a large scale adventure, solving puzzles, discovering hidden objects and avoiding or fighting lots of enemies

The big hook for the game were the cinematic moments, which defined the series, keeping players on the edge of their seat as Drake narrowly advoided countless dangers. The game was remastered on PlayStation 4 and released as part of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: Dec 6, 2007
• Developer: Naughty Dog
• Platforms: PlayStation 3

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2009

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Back for more adventures, Nathan and friends are on the quest for Shambhala

Two years after the first game, players were once again taken on a wild adventure, as Nathan, Sully and the gang were on the race to reach Shambhala

One of the sequences that was shown off early and was even immortalised on the box art, was the train and it was so well recieved, PlayStation built an entire commerical around it, among their many of the time. The game was remastered on PlayStation 4 and released as part of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: Oct 15, 2009
• Developer: Naughty Dog
• Platforms: PlayStation 3

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Uncharted: Eye of Indra

An original 4-part prequel comic series to the first game

The story follows Nathan Drake's escapades a few weeks before embarking on his journey to recover the coffin of Sir Francis Drake, the story of which features in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

The comic does end with Drake explaining to Sully how he plans to get finance for his expedition to find the coffin of Sir Francis Drake, pointing to the TV in the background, which features Elena Fisher reporting on it.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: Oct 29, 2009
• Developer: Naughty Dog
• Platforms: Motion Comic

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2011

Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth

The only real stand alone adventure for Drake and Sully, that does not connect to any game

The novel was written by Christopher Golden. The story reunites Nathan with Sully, who's friend and world renowned archaeologist has been murdered and now they must dodge assassins and more to find who did it.

While part of the series, the book is not directly connected to any events, with the books publisher going on record and saying "It's not necessarily a prequel or a sequel." Either way, it is a fun read.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: October, 2011
• Developer: Del Ray Books
• ISBN-13:‎ 978-0345522177

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Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

As the saying goes, third times the charm and for Drake, a chance to earn those frequent flyer miles

Two years after the events of the previous game, players found themselves racing against a group who were after Nate's ring, yes the one first seen in the original game

While there were a lot of cool moments, this entry found a lot more time to dedicate to its characters, especially the relationship between Nate and Elena, which really cemented Naughty Dog as a developer who could deliver great story and incredible gameplay. The game was remastered on PlayStation 4 and released as part of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: Nov 2, 2011
• Developer: Naughty Dog
• Platforms: PlayStation 3

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Uncharted

A comic that told an original tale, sending Nate on a quest to Hollow Earth

Written by Joshua Williamson, with art by Sergio Sandoval and covers by Adam Hughes, this comic was a six part mini-comic that told an original tale.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: Nov 30, 2011
• Creators: DC Comicx
• Platforms: Comic

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2012

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

The first portable adventure for Nathan Drake, was also a prequel to the series, taking us back to learn of another adventure

Portable entries in series are often considered weak, compared to their console counterparts, but not here. For Golden Abyss, players were given the complete Uncharted experience, just now in their hands. The games use of Vita mechanics like touchscreen, were considered fun, if frustrating. In North America, the game released about a month after Uncharted 3, the rest of the world got the game in early 2012.

The game has players running over South America, mostly Panama, in the hope of locating Cibola before the bad guys. Of if the name Cibola does not ring any bells, how about the City of Gold? Due to the games use of the Vita inputs, it has been locked to that platform ever since.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: Feb 23, 2012
• Developer: Bend Studio
• Platforms: PlayStation Vita

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Uncharted: Fight for Fortune

Opening Line

A spin-off of Naughty Dog's Uncharted series, players engage in turn-based matches using cards themed after characters and elements of the series.

The game did see some DLC released afterwards, mostly to bring in cards inspired by the second and third games, but it never really caught on. Those who did play it, enjoyed it, but many said that the unbalanced gameplay meant it was to easy to be owned by another player. The game was released for the Vita and never left it, unlike the previous game, this one needed mutliplayer to really thrive and with the servers taken down in 2019, being a digltal only title, it has remained a relic of the past ever since.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: Dec 5, 2012
• Developer: Bend Studio & One Loop Games
• Platforms: PlayStation Vita

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2016

Uncharted: Fortune Hunter

Uncharted loves its puzzles, so a puzzle game made sense on paper at least

Released just 5 days before Uncharted 4, Fortune Hunter was a free to play mobile game, that took players through more than 200 puzzles, where you had to navigate rooms full of traps, in order to get away with the treasure.

As this was a companion game to the fourth mainline game in the series, anyone who linked the game to their PlayStation account, could unlock rewards for the multiplayer mode of Uncharted 4. This game was sadly taken offline in 2022, making it the second game you can no longer get.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: May 5, 2016
• Developer: PlayStation Mobile Inc.
• Platforms: Android, iOS

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Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

After some time dealing with some fun guys, Naughty Dog jumped back into the more open world of Uncharted.

Uncharted 4 had a bit of a rough start with members of the team making it leaving the studio, but new leads came in and delivered a game packed with explortion and one dangerous and persistant bloody armoured car.

One aspect of this new game is that it introduced players to a previously unknown brother, it also introduced sliding down hills and boy was there a lot of that. The big thing for the game was the open world area, giving players a lot of freedom to explore the world and find their own adventures, which was a big deal for a series that was fairly linear before.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: May 10, 2016
• Developer: Naughty Dog
• Platforms: PlayStation 4

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2017

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Brendan was not available to replace Drake, so you get the other Frazer

The Lost Legacy has the distinction of being the only game in the series that did not have you play as Nathan Drake. Instead Chloe Frazer, his friend/enemy that players first encountered in the second game.

What makes this even more special is that it is an expansion to the fourth game, but is entirely standalone. What this means is that players get almost the same gameplay mechanics, just in a new region, with new characters and of course, a pair of kick ass females leading the charge.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: Aug 23, 2017
• Developer: Naughty Dog
• Platforms: PlayStation 4

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